Is Your Mind Making You Fat?

It’s easy to make a judgment. If you see a larger person walking out of McDonalds you assume that if they ceased to continuously eat Big Macs they wouldn’t be that size.

But not everything judged can be seen. What if the reason you have weight issues is mental? Our society is consistently bombarded with images, diets and judgements every day. This has caused many people to have an imbalanced relationship with food.

Disordered eating is loosely defined as abnormal eating.

We all know the most common eating disorders and stigmas revolving around anorexia and bulemia and I’m not here to get into them. But just because you don’t throw up after meals or starve yourself does not mean you have a healthy relationship with food.

As a person “in the industry” I am well aware of the demands placed upon my physique. After all, you don’t hire an out of shape trainer. And what’s defined as “fit”? Being lean of course. Needless to say, it creates a lot of pressure.

Disordered eating can be caused by many things. It can also be viewed in many ways: consistently floating from fad diet to diet, binge eating and then “fasting” etc. But I want to talk to you about a different kind of disordered eating, one that is all too popular and not as well known.

How often do you have a “binge night? Where you get out all your cravings, eat the pint of ice cream or the full pizza? For some people, this is their regular diet. But what if you normally eat really healthy? Doesn’t sound so bad right? But what if you don’t really know what you’re doing while you’re bingeing? What if you suddenly just have to have that bowl of ice cream… than that box of crackers, than the leftover pizza, and then the ham sandwhich? When you finally stop and go to bed, you’re overcome with guilt. Sickened by it. But you just couldn’t physically stop.

It’s not so bad, right? If you eat healthy 90% of the time, surely you’re allowed a night every so often to go all out?

But what if it’s happening, once a week.. than twice a week? Notice how it only happens when you’re by yourself? Notice that once you’re finally able to get control of your mind you feel as if you’ve been in a “mist”. Not sure of everything you actually put into your mouth?

This is disordered eating. It is a relationship with food that is not healthy. One in which your mind is overcome with guilt. Why? Because you keep telling yourself you’re not “allowed” to have something; the cake, the pizza etc. Unless you are competing, there shouldn’t be a list of what you are allowed and not allowed. There should only be food.

Sadly this happens more often than people realize. Food should not make you feel so guilty that you’re crying yourself to sleep. It should not be your every thought. This is disordered eating.

It is a prime example that mentally you need to change how you view food and your body. Maintaining this type of relationship with food will only cause more harm than good. Don’t be scared to ask for help.

Pigging out on ice cream every once in a while is normal, and it’s okay. But consuming two days worth of food in one night is not.

Food should be fuel, it should be something you enjoy, celebrate with and lead a healthy lifestyle with. It should not rule your life and your mind. Take some pressure of yourself and ask for help, you’ll have a better body (and life balance) for it.